Palestinians walk past the ruins of houses that witnesses said were destroyed by Israeli shelling during a 50-day war last summer in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip (Reuters/Suhaib Salem) / Reuters

A group of prominent former European officials have called on the EU foreign chief to review the bloc’s policy towards the Palestinian issue and find an effective way to hold Israel accountable for its actions in the occupied territories.

In their four-page letter to Federica Mogherini, the former top
brass (which includes ex-foreign and prime ministers of France,
Spain and Sweden, to name just a few) hold little faith in
success for the peace negotiations between Israelis and
Palestinians and “urgent action” in order to
“construct a coherent and effective policy on the question of
Palestine.”

“We maintain our view that the current financial and
political assistance given by Europe and America to the
Palestinian Authority achieves little more than the preservation
of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and imprisonment of
Gaza. The Palestinian Authority's tenuous grip on the West Bank
population's allegiance has required strong security and other
dependence on Israel, funded primarily by Europe and the US. Gaza
has shamefully been left to one side,” the group has stated, adding that the
re-election of the Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has only made
things worse.

Netanyahu has pledged that a Palestinian state would not be
established on his watch.

“I think that whoever today moves to establish a Palestinian
state and withdraw from territory is giving attack territory for
Islamic extremists against the state of Israel,” the Israeli
PM told NRG in March.

“Mr. Netanyahu expressed various views on Palestine in and around
the recent election campaign, most of them cold to the concept of
an independent Palestinian state. We are convinced in our own
minds that he has little intention of negotiating seriously for a
two-state solution within the term of this incoming Israeli
government,” the letter stated.

The former officials also stressed that they have “low
confidence that the US government will be in a position to take a
lead on fresh negotiations with the vigor and the impartiality
that a two-state outcome demands.”

Meanwhile over 500,000 Israelis currently live in settlements in
the West Bank and around East Jerusalem which were built after
the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. The
occupied territories of the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza Strip
have been seeking full statehood and independence from Israel for
five decades.

Thousands of people have lost their lives in one of the longest
conflicts in modern history. According to the former officials
and diplomats, “conditions in the occupied territories remain
high on the list of the world’s worst crises in terms not just of
political flammability, but also of the denial of international
justice, human rights and humanitarian standards.”

In 2012, Palestine were granted non-member, observer-state status
in the UN. Its April 1 accession to the International Criminal
Court (ICC) became a red letter day for the nation, marking a
landmark step in Palestinians' legal campaign. It's hoped that
the move will help seek justice for Israel’s operation
‘Protective Edge’ last summer, in which thousands of civilians
were killed in Gaza.

“Europe should engage with the Palestinians on responsible
use of the ICC, recognizing that its powers will be applicable to
Palestinian just as much as to Israeli actions,” the former
officials stated in their letter.

They have called on the EU to get its priorities straight, adding
that the development of relations with Israel and Palestine
“would depend on their attitude to progress towards a
two-state solution.”

“Europe has yet to find an effective way of holding Israel to
account for the way it maintains the occupation. It is time now
to demonstrate to both parties how seriously European public
opinion takes contraventions of international law, the
perpetration of atrocities and the denial of established
rights.”

The group says it's likely that the status of Palestine will come
before the UN Security Council later this year.
“EU members of that body should be united in supporting a draft
resolution that creates a greater equivalence between Israel and
Palestine as political entities in the framework of any new
negotiations. If this means recognition of a Palestine
government-in-waiting for the territories within the pre-1967
borders, or the setting of a deadline for the negotiation of a
two-state solution, the EU should be united in support,” the
group stated, noting that “hiding behind American leadership
on the politics of the dispute is unedifying and
unproductive.”

US President Barack Obama has meanwhile told a London-based
Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsat earlier this week that he is
still cherishing hope for a two-state solution to the
Israel-Palestinian conflict. He said tensions in the Middle East
and "serious questions about overall commitment" have
made progress challenging, however.
"It's no secret that we now have a very difficult path forward.
As a result, the United States is taking a hard look at our
approach to the conflict," Obama said, adding that
Washington is now looking to the "new Israeli government and
the Palestinians to demonstrate - through policies and actions -
a genuine commitment to a two-state solution."